Why is Broadway such a big deal culturally?

[FaxModem1]

I'm a big fan of the movies, of TV shows, books, video games, etc. Almost any format that is accessible for anyone who has the means to see it. And thanks to modern technology, one can (legally) catch up on almost any of these cultural touchstones somehow, in some way. And most of these achieve public consciousness, and are parts of our culture. We discuss things from it, use it for discussion of concepts, enjoy it to get away from reality, to try and inspire people in reality, etc.

As an example, anyone with a wifi connection or library card could find out most of what they want to about such cultural phenomena as, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Casablanca, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, CSI, Superman, Law & Order, I Love Lucy, etc. by watching some episodes, reading the books, catching it on YouTube, etc. Or if you're willing to spend a little bit of money, you can spend a few bucks at the movie theater(or the dollar theater if you're willing to wait a couple months), or pay for a streaming service.

This means that whether you're in Anchorage, Alaska or Miami, Florida, you could probably be familiar with what happens with almost anything in the modern cultural lexicon. It's understandable, as almost anyone could get access to it if they wanted to without hurting themselves.

However, Broadway is a completely different animal. You want to see Rent, or Cats, or Wicked, or Hamilton? Do you live in New York? No? Then fuck you, you provincial hillbilly. You better fly to New York then. Okay, blew a bunch of money on airfare? Great, now pay a bunch of money for a hotel so that you aren't sleeping on the street. What's that? You wanted to afford your mortgage this month? HAHAHA, that's cute you little peasant. Time to buy tickets instead. No, they don't cost a mere 10 to 20 bucks, like a movie ticket or DVD would, they cost you over 200 dollars, sometimes as most as a grand. Yes, I know you already blew a bunch of money getting here, but that's the cost of doing business. And you'll need to book several months in advance.

And yet, people are SUPPOSED to know what the heck is going on if someone references a Broadway show in anything. People are supposed to have seen Hamilton if they watch The Tonight Show, or if they are watching a plotline relating to it on a sitcom or police procedural. Why is that? Is everyone in America, and the world in general supposed to know about every cultural phenomenon in New York City? Though this isn't confined to just Broadway shows, one is also supposed to know all about the Big Apple, and the Broadway culture, no matter how far removed you are from it. See almost any movie or TV show that doesn't take place in LA taking place in New York. At least due to cultural osmosis and everyone having access to a television set, we can catch up on such things, to a certain extent.

So, why does Broadway command such cultural importance, when only a tiny fraction of the population would ever have access to it, unless they waited decades for the off chance it came to their home town, or a few hundred miles away instead of thousands? Why is something that due to sheer inaccessibility by design supposed to be something everyone should know about?

Discuss.

(Yes, I know this was mostly a rant on New York and Broadway culture, but I'd love to hear responses on the cultural hegemony of New York City being more important than everywhere else)

[Dînadan]

If I had to hazard a guess I’d say it’s possibly because the people making those other media that reference it have gone to see those plays and musicals. And to a lesser extent, some of the actors in those TV shows may have starred, or then currentling starring in one and its added either as a ego stroke by the writers or it’s done to promote the actor’s stagework as part of their contract.


There’s possibly also an element of the ‘stage play = art, mass media = not art’ mentality; you know the sort of thing that used to get things like Star Wars and LotR snubbed at the Oscars.

[TGLS]

Why are car dealerships all packed together? They all sell cars, but they're all in one place. Makes it incredibly inconvenient if you need to take a bus across town to buy a car, right?

Well, there's a reason why car dealerships get packed together. If you go to a car dealership, and you don't like what you see, then you go to the one right next door. You see this happen with restaurants too. One restaurant is too busy, or the menu doesn't appeal, move right on to the next.

Now you're probably saying. "What does any of this have to do with Broadway?" Well, you see, let's suppose you regularly go to the Theatre. What you're in a mood to see varies, so you'll want a large set of options. Each theatre can only show one play at a time, and because of other costs, will show only one play for some time. Thus, to ensure that they are successful, they want to be surrounded by other theatres that get lots of traffic. And so, it makes the most sense for there to be many theatres together. This is why Broadway and the West End in London are a thing.

[FaxModem1]

Why are car dealerships all packed together? They all sell cars, but they're all in one place. Makes it incredibly inconvenient if you need to take a bus across town to buy a car, right?

Well, there's a reason why car dealerships get packed together. If you go to a car dealership, and you don't like what you see, then you go to the one right next door. You see this happen with restaurants too. One restaurant is too busy, or the menu doesn't appeal, move right on to the next.

Now you're probably saying. "What does any of this have to do with Broadway?" Well, you see, let's suppose you regularly go to the Theatre. What you're in a mood to see varies, so you'll want a large set of options. Each theatre can only show one play at a time, and because of other costs, will show only one play for some time. Thus, to ensure that they are successful, they want to be surrounded by other theatres that get lots of traffic. And so, it makes the most sense for there to be many theatres together. This is why Broadway and the West End in London are a thing.

Yes, this explains why there are districts, but not why it's all confined to New York City, or as you pointed out, West End in London. Or why it's so culturally significant that the rest of the world should know about shows they'll never be able to see. Are people in, say Rapid City, South Dakota supposed to spend thousands of dollars if they want to see a show, or know what the show is about? Or just hope that someday some actors will grace their little podunk town with it? Or that the movie adaptation will sometime happen.

You know, like how Wicked has had a movie adaptation that gives everyone else an idea of why it's a big deal. Only, no it hasn't.

If I had to hazard a guess I’d say it’s possibly because the people making those other media that reference it have gone to see those plays and musicals. And to a lesser extent, some of the actors in those TV shows may have starred, or then currentling starring in one and its added either as a ego stroke by the writers or it’s done to promote the actor’s stagework as part of their contract.

There’s possibly also an element of the ‘stage play = art, mass media = not art’ mentality; you know the sort of thing that used to get things like Star Wars and LotR snubbed at the Oscars.

So, just inside baseball being forced on everyone as a cultural expectation? Good to know.

[Robovski]

New York is historically the ''first city'' of the US in the 20th century at least, and a center of media of many forms throughout. Broadway grew up beside the New York Times, The NBC Radio network, the rise and decline of TV and the very first locus of the US movie industry (later relocated out west to avoid the Edison patents). Broadway was right there as a source of media, stories, gossip and anything else you needed to fill pages, airwaves and screens with.

[TGLS]

Yes, this explains why there are districts, but not why it's all confined to New York City, or as you pointed out, West End in London.

That's something I forgot. Sorry. It's all in New York because New York was the largest way back when, and nowadays there isn't really that large a market for theatre. It's the district problem writ large.

[PerrySimm]

Broadway may just be a convenient apparatus to extract some of the massive Wall Street dinner party budget. In such an instance, any entertainment provided for tourists is entirely incidental.